THE METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1848. ART. I.-Methodism in its Origin, Economy, and Present Position. By Rev. JAMES DIXON, Ex-President of the Wesleyan Conference. 18mo., pp. 360. New-York: Lane and Tippett. 1847. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the facts connected with the external history of Methodism. Our readers are quite as familiar as we are with the story of the pious young men of Oxford, the successful preaching of the Wesleys and their coadjutors, the gathering of the societies, and the ultimate completion of the peculiar system by which so much has been done toward spreading Scriptural holiness over the earth. Neither is it necessary to recount the details of Methodistic organization, and to point out the mode by which it is worked as a great economical system of evangelical effort. The constitution, discipline, and modus operandi of the church, are perfectly familiar to all who are likely to read an essay upon this subject. But there remains to be written of Methodism, as of all other moral and intellectual movements, a history of its spirit. Its forms and accidents, the circumstances attending its various developments, the sum total of its results, these and similarly interesting matters, have often been precisely described, narrated, and estimated. But what is Methodism itself? Divest it of its forms, separate it from what it holds in common, reduce it to its simple elementary substance, and what is it? Having ascertained what Methodism is, we may examine the Methodist Church as it presents itself to-day. We may inquire whether it preserves its Methodism pure and untrammeled. We may ascertain whether the energizing agent has spent its force in passing through the mighty mass, or whether, like the electric spark, it has fired without itself consuming, energized without decaying. Finally, should the great whole, as it now VOL. VIII.-31 exists, manifest to the scrutinizing eye any evidence of inefficiency, we may know where to seek the evil, and how to apply the remedy. The process thus suggested involves no great labor, demands no abstruse inquiry. Methodism, stripped of its accidents, is a very simple thing; and as easily as the mineralogist removes layer after layer of the conglomerated mass, until he reaches the primary central crystal upon which all have been formed, so may we develop the nature of that teaching which has gathered about it so complete an organization. The only difficulty will be, as it would be in the case of the mineralogist, to detect the nature and properties of the nucleus, after we shall have found it. We may safely affirm that none of what are called the peculiarities of Methodism are essential to it, and that none of its doctrines are peculiar to it. Our class meetings are proper to us, and as a part of our effective organization are immensely important. Yet Methodism existed before class meetings; the latter were but a consequence of the action of the former. They are a means by which Methodism acts; but they are not Methodism. Our itinerancy is peculiar to us; but Methodism existed before itinerancy, and certainly could exist without it. As an expedient, it is most profitable; but it is not Methodism. Nor are any of the doctrines of the church peculiar to it. Mr. Wesley always professed to teach the truth as held by the Church of England, and denied that he had introduced any new opinions. If any intelligent Methodist were asked to designate that doctrine which he supposed to be most peculiar to his church, he would probably say, "The witness of the Spirit." Yet the inquirer would have to seek no further than Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress for evidence that the doctrine was thoroughly understood and fully appreciated before the Methodist Church existed. To say that Methodism is the doctrine of the "witness of the Spirit," would be as absurd as was the answer of a witness in one of our civil courts, who, when asked, "What is Calvinism?" replied, "Justification by faith." It would be very easy to show that no other of our doctrines are exclusively our own; but it cannot be necessary to do so. The statement will hardly be contradicted. It is evident that Methodism might exist in all its purity under a form of church organization entirely different from that now in use; for we acknowledge that our organization is founded on expediency only but Methodism is not an expedient. Again, all "I hold all the doctrines of the Church of England; I love her Liturgy." -Wesley's Sermon on the Ministerial Office. |